Current Joys – ‘A Different Age’

Photo by Matthew James Wilson

As we are slowly heading towards the end of the year lists, it’s also time for deep regret about all the music that we failed to highlight for you in the past months. The record of a man named Nicholas Rattigan is definitely amongst them. Back in February he released a new album under his solo moniker Current Joys called A Different Age and it’s just one of those albums that come in handy for the longer, darker nights ahead of us.

While Rattigan also has a lofi-surf band called Surf Curse running, Current Joys is his insular outlet. It’s equal parts Californian No Wave as it is a record that many 90s slowcore experts would have been proud of making. Its title song, A Different Age, is nearly seven minutes of painful self observation to sparse, sluggish guitar lines that, along with bedroom drums and synths, still manage to build up to somekind of strange anti-Heroes. But be warned, as soon as you hear Rattigan summarizing in agony that ‘this song is a joke and the melody I wrote, wrong!’ something inside you might just crack. (Henning)

Hôy La – ‘Purple’

Photo by Austin Maloney

I had a chat with Ingri Høyland, aka Hôy la, back in Bergen a month or so ago at Vill Vill Vest. Since then, she’s been to Japan for some shows, and took the opportunity to shoot a video for her new single Purple there.  Purple is cut from the same musical cloth as the singles she’s been putting out over the past couple of years, narcotic, heavy, art-electronica. It’s all hazy and shadowy atmosphere, the fugue punctured only by the bullet-fire ratatat of the drums, over which Høyland’s vocals paint (Yayoi Kusama-inspired) imagery as murky and mysterious as the music itself.

It’s an enigmatic song that hints at secrets without ever revealing them, and that well-written mystique will keep you listening again and again. On the video, Høyland says: ‘The streets of Japan and the lifestyle of the Japanese are very aesthetic – the orderly streets, people’s pragmatic way of life and of course the architecture is so simple and functional but so beautiful’. Check it out now, and Hôy la has an EP on the way early next year. (Austin)

Faye Webster – ‘Kingston’

The fact that Atlanta-based artist Faye Webster placed herself in the middle of a field of flamingos in her new music video Kingston is not the only reason you should give this tune a spin. But it really does help, yes. Because the hazy images of this paradise-like scenery perfectly fit to the dreamy and slightly surrealistic song which marks the artist’s first release after signing to acclaimed label Secretly Canadian. The song itself is another plus, obviously.

Kingston is a fragile piece of Americana-infected indie pop that can’t deny the singer’s love for R&B and Hip Hop, making it a quite surprising mixture. There’s also a saxophone part in it that doesn’t suck which is another argument that speaks for the actual song. Faye Webster spreads this harmonic atmosphere that invites the listener to take a few minutes off and let the hectic trouble of the daily life simply pass you by. We’re pretty sure that 2019 will give us way more delicacies from this talented young lady whether it’s with or without the flamingos. (Norman)

Hatchie – ‘Adored’

Alright, I told you about this one a few times in the past already and I’m pretty sure we don’t have to deal with Australian newcomer Hatchie within the ‘hidden treasure’ category for that much longer. 2019 is looking for a good year for the talented songwriter following this really good impression she gave over the past months. Back in July I already recommended you the hazy Bad Guy as well as her entire debut EP Sugar & Spice, this month she returned with another outstanding piece for the Adult Swim Singles series.

Adored delivers all the strength that made me fell in love with her music earlier this year. There’s her ability to perfectly capture the retro sound of early 90s dream pop á la Slowdive and Cocteau Twins and give it a slick modern twist. And it’s also just a pretty good piece of pop music; you can’t deny that. Hatchie‘s affection to chronically put one layer too much on her already huge-sounding shoegaze pop might be a bit too much for a few people but I really enjoy it and can’t wait for an entire full-length to be released somewhere over the course of 2019. I also like the slightly imperfect lo-fi charm the following live video transports; something that’s a nice addition to the studio version. (Norman)

Eliot – ‘Am I In Love Or Just Hungry’

ElliotStockholm musician Elliot can never be accused of not getting the most out of his shtick. Having dubbed himself a ‘fast food fanatic’, and named a previous single Trade Burgers 4 Love, his new single is called Am I In Love Or Just Hungry. Am I In Love Or Just Hungry takes the form of a classic Elliot single, which sounds a little like a debased version of an 80s synth ballad, his voice hanging half-disembodied and warped over cavernous, chillwave synths.

There’s a charm and warmth to it, and a heart-wrecked crooner deep within distortion and haze. Elliot says: ‘In retrospect, the ’fast food’ subject matter was a guarded metaphor for toxic aspects of my personality, my vices and generally it’s some self-loathing stuff. It’s tough to deal with these subjects upfront when your head is swarming with self-harming thoughts and anxieties, so it was a necessary story telling device for me’. His debut album Fast Food Music has just been released via ICEA. (Austin)

NBHAP’s Daily Tunes from November 2018

Find all of those songs and plenty of other new music in the following playlist which – obviously – gets updated daily.